Mazda plans to restart production at all Japanese plants

KUALA LUMPUR: As the countries get back to normal, many automakers across the world are reopening factories and resuming production. One such automaker, Mazda recently announced the resumption of its all assembly plants in Japan after being idle for weeks.

According to Mazda, the two-shift production at two assembly plants in Hiroshima and one at Yamaguchi prefecture's Hofu will start from July 1. While the other plant in Hofu will be resuming from July 27. The company continues the single-shift production at the four plants throughout June because of a reduction in new car sales.

Due to the pandemic impact, the company's production volume in Japan was stood at 40 percent as compared to the quantity produced during the same period in the previous year. But with this resumption plan, Mazda aims to get back 80 percent of its volume in July month.

The company analyzed the demand in different markets over the past months, and after a period of adjusting global production and supply, its inventory levels at manufacturing plants, at ports, and at dealer outlets are steadily returning to appropriate levels, Mazda says.

At the moment, the automaker planned to resume both day and night shift operations without suspensions at all plants in Japan before the end of July. While the plants in Mexico and Thailand will still continue to operate with a reduced number of working days.

The company's Mazda de Mexico Vehicle Operation, located in Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico will operate from Monday to Thursday. However, its Rayong plant in Thailand is currently undergoing adjustments.

By combining Mexico and Thailand production, the planned production volume in July would become 150 percent higher than June 2020. In terms of safety, the company is cautiously moving the things forward while implementing all the safety protocols on a strict note.

"Although we expect it to take a long time before the global market will return to pre-pandemic levels, we will proceed cautiously with business in order to ensure that we can meet requests from customers considering to buy Mazda vehicles while continuing to implement infection prevention measures," the company says.

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